The Children of Israel Did Evil - Judges 2:11

In the book of Judges we learned how, “Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel”, and in chapter two and verse eleven of Judges, we learn how, “the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD”, where we read,

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:

The verse reads, “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, …” The writer began with the words, “and the children of Israel” which means “and the offspring and progeny belonging to Israel whose name means’God prevails’ and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob” “did evil in the sight” or “produced and performed bad, disagreeable, malignant and wicked acts and deeds within the vision and physical presence” “of the LORD” which means “belonging to Jehovah who is the existing One and is the proper name for the One True God”. The writer shared how the offspring of “Israel” performed wicked and malignant deeds within the vision and physical presence of Jehovah God.

The verse goes on to say, “… and served Baalim:” The writer continued with the words, “and served” which means “and worshiped, worked and labored for” “Baalim” whose name means ‘lord’ who was the supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians or Canaanites”. The writer shared how the people of Israel worshiped and labored for “Baalim” instead of Jehovah God. 

When we think through the words in this verse, we learn how this next “generation” performed wicked and malignant deeds in the presence of Jehovah God, and they forsook Him to worship and labor for the pagan deity “Baalim”. We can only imagine how much this angered Jehovah God, and we shall discover the consequences for their actions in our next few verses, but for now let us be reminded that the reason God sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of everyone and to be resurrected from the grave after three days was because people worship and labor for other deities all over the world. God wants to be first in our lives, and no other god is to come before Him. (Matthew 6:33) When we yield to His Son Jesus as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and equip us with His Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth and keep us from worshiping and serving other gods that will only bring destruction and eternal peril into our lives. (See John 3:16: Exodus 20:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:9)

Next time we learn how the children of Israel, “forsook the LORD God of their fathers”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".